The Athletic has live coverage of Rams vs. Seahawks on “Thursday Night Football.”
For the ball-is-life crowd and the NFL vassals, a lot of life is lived around football telecasts. In a standard week, the games are on our screens and speakers for some 16 hours (three on Monday, three on Thursday, Sunday’s main broadcast windows). Even if we’re not on the edge of our seats that entire time, the rhythms seep into our heads. “Here we go, Jim!,” we catch ourselves saying to the garbage disposal.
NFL viewership is innately separated from the players on the field. There’s also a clear barrier from the play-by-play announcer, our narrator perched atop the coliseum. We forge a more direct connection to the color commentators. They’re professional analysts, but also the booth’s visceral reactors. They reflex truisms on third downs in a way that feels living-room familiar. These are our parasocial party guests, and each member of the crew brings something to the potluck.
Earlier in the season, we had fun with play-by-play announcer superlatives. Here’s our follow-up, with football’s main color commentators typified as watch party personalities.
You can watch the 2025 NFL season and postseason on Fubo (Stream Free Now).
Prime timeTNF: Kirk Herbstreit, the college fan
As the “Thursday Night Football” analyst, Herbstreit is the first person to show up at our door. He definitely knocks with the “shave and a haircut” cadence. From the jump, he’s talking Big Ten realignment and debating the College Football Playoff rankings. He does so while joyously rolling around the floor with our dogs. This is the friend who remembers NFL Draft orders down to the pick. He keeps trying to get a group of us together for preseason tickets, because he wants to see those Stetson Bennett reps.
Herbstreit goes straight from TNF to “College GameDay” on most weekends, and unlike the others on this list, his football experience is exclusive to the college game (Ohio State quarterback from 1989-92). That works in his favor when he and Al Michaels call top rookies. He’s able to compare their recent college systems to their new pro ones, and he can lend context to that arcane adjustment process. It was cool to hear him soundtrack a cathartic burst from Marvin Harrison Jr.:
“A heck of a job here by Marvin Harrison, finally high-pointing a ball, using his strength to come down with that football.”
Kirk Herbstreit after Marvin Harrison Jr. hauls in a 16-yard touchdown. https://t.co/FPFoYstEt2 pic.twitter.com/k3PrUYI51C
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 26, 2025
Best for: High-profile rookie looks.
SNF: Cris Collinsworth, the football hipster
Football has built-in social cues. Everyone at the function is going to emote on touchdowns and turnovers. But our friend from “Sunday Night Football” is a different breed. He gets amped up by the pulling guard on a zone run. He keeps one hand on his snack plate and one hand free to count potential blitzers. Most of our homies are there for us with an instinctive fist bump. Collinsworth taps us and says, “Watch how No. 31 recovers on this route.”
Collinsworth drops Pro Football Focus grades into the NBC broadcast. He highlights a game’s less-obvious flashpoints, which belies his perspective as a No. 1 wide receiver (Cincinnati Bengals, 1981-88). “Here’s a guy” who can excavate real glamour from the sport’s margins. “Here’s a guy” who claims his spot on the couch by hydroplaning next to Mike Tirico:
Cris Collinsworth brought back “The Collinsworth Slide” for his 500th career broadcast 😂 @SNFonNBC
TBvsLAR on NBC
Stream on @NFLPlus + Peacock pic.twitter.com/X0NMuTZdhl
— NFL (@NFL) November 24, 2025
Best for: Well-played, one-score games that close out our weekend.
MNF: Troy Aikman, the tough critic
We all know folks who justify their takes with “I said what I said” or “I call it like I see it.” Aikman is the apotheosis, a fair outcome after he quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys through their 1990s dynasty. Alongside Joe Buck, Aikman builds up must-win stakes and rips into underachievers. He’s the one most likely to mutter about slouched body language or flat sideline vibes. He’s not a hater — he just has careful standards, as Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson learned this year. To his credit, Aikman is also eager to underline clutch success, like Trevor Lawrence’s “Monday Night Football” moment.
When our team is rolling, Aikman is the king of the party. When we’re looking at a loss, he’s stoking cartoon-level anger (steam coming out of our ears, alarm bells materializing). He brings a lot to the table, which allows him to call out someone else’s subpar onion dip. “I never try to make anything personal,” he told The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch.
Best for: Tense games with big markets and hot seats.
CBSTony Romo, the hype machine
If Aikman brings meat and potatoes, fellow former Cowboys QB Romo brings popcorn and gummy worms. He’s our party’s relentless positive energy source, equal parts Buddy the Elf and Lil Jon. No one on this planet will beat him to the words “big drive here” when a big drive is indeed here. We know our neighbors are complaining as his enthusiasm echos, but Romo’s buy-in with Jim Nantz is undeniable. And he’s a bit more self-aware as the inside jokes have mounted:
“HERE WE GO JIM”
“TONYYYYYYYY”
– Jim Nantz and Tony Romo with their best impressions of @FrankCaliendo impersonating them 😂 pic.twitter.com/8kQvU1HELd
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 29, 2024
Best for: Road team with the ball, down six, two minutes left. All together now … “ahh, here we go, Jim!”
J.J. Watt, the letterman
A reliable archetype of the jovial jock. Watt might razz us about the size of the TV and humiliate us on our own air hockey table. He’s also the first one to get the door and refill the dipping sauce flight bowls (we use those, because we are the fancy hosts). The three-time Defensive Player of the Year has grown a solid back-and-forth routine with Ian Eagle. Yeah, a lot of it centers on Watt’s strength and butt-kicking prowess. Fear not, there are riffs on ill-worded Kayshon Boutte calls and bad freshman year haircuts.
Yet when the game calls for seriousness, Watt’s old pass-rush intensity bleeds through the early window:
JJ WATT AND IAN EAGLE ARE ELECTRIC ⚡⚡⚡ pic.twitter.com/D5zVObsfQM
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) December 14, 2025
Best for: Divisional rivalries on a Sunday afternoon.
Trent Green, the fantasy updater
Of course the former shotgun QB focuses on offense. While Kevin Harlan revs his engine continuously, Green’s tenor rises and crests with the scoreboard. With the Kansas City Chiefs, Green topped 4,000 passing yards in three consecutive seasons (2003-05). He was under center for Priest Holmes’ button-mashing 2003 campaign (27 rushing TDs, then a league record). And he has a knack for seeing vertical plays as they load into our frame. Green is our id in the booth and our laid-back friend with the stat updates.
Best for: Points on points on points.
Charles Davis and Jason McCourty, the best friends
Well, look who showed up! Chortling among themselves in “I’m With Stupid” novelty shirts, no less. It’s the only color commentary duo in the NFL broadcast rotation. In flanking play-by-play voice Andrew Catalon, Davis and McCourty have become inseparable. They’re the type to preface with “we’re a package deal” as teams divvy up for various party games. They laugh at each other’s jokes and finish each other’s sandwiches. It helps that they’re both former defensive backs. Davis repped the Tennessee Volunteers (1983-86) and McCourty won a ring with the New England Patriots (Super Bowl LIII). In tandem, they cover action like a press corner and a high safety.
Best for: A marquee WR-DB matchup.
FoxTom Brady, that new friend we’ve heard about
Brady feels like a budding acquaintance here. It’s as if someone in the group invited their new coworker or their cousin who just moved to our city. We see the fit within our squad. We latch onto their stories, of which they have so many. We know that they know ball. But the comfort zone hasn’t been cracked quite yet, and some social beats come in a half-step early. Maybe we need more hangs in the books. Kevin Burkhardt can even be his plus one.
The NFL’s 21st century standard-bearer is eminently suited to call wild comebacks. He saw his fair share of them across 23 pro seasons and seven Super Bowl wins. He knows how to walk us through them, from the mundane notes of clock management to the psychic and supernatural summoning of fate. And still, when it all comes down to it, Brady is dropping onomatopoeias like a teenage wrestling fan:
Compilation of the 🐐Tom Brady’s “ooh” commentary Week 5 #AZvsSF #BirdGang pic.twitter.com/OgJJmjPbqs
— 🌴sSǝNʞu∀ɹℲ🌵 (@frankZONEa) October 7, 2024
Best for: Wild comebacks and rapid swings.
Greg Olsen, that old friend we’ve known forever
In contrast to Brady, Olsen’s voice reaches us like a true day-one pal, the angel on our shoulder beating the devil with a 10-yard in-route. Parents trusted this friend to the moon and back during our high school days. As a guest here, he’s grillmaster and ombudsmen. As a commentator on Fox, he’s thoroughly thorough beside Joe Davis. If the garage door is malfunctioning and the wings are late, we need reliable over rowdy.
“When people come away from a game that I’m a part of, I hope their No. 1 takeaway is this guy loves football. This guy loves all of it, the good, the bad, the ugly games, the blowouts, the close fourth quarters and everything in between,” the three-time Pro Bowl tight end told The Athletic. He also joins our site to answer questions about youth athletics and sports psychology. He gives us thoughtful perspective on the NFL’s pressure points and redemptive arcs.
Best for: Crossroads games and “state of the franchise” moments.
Daryl Johnston, watcher of the watchmen
Johnston is not a total curmudgeon, though “former ’90s fullback enraged by roughing the passer penalties” fits our description. In spirit, he’s showing up to the get-together with jerky and plain seltzer. In practice, he’s a booth advocate for tough football at modern pacing. Johnston is unafraid to criticize NFL referees, which endears him to a real contingency that bristles at each flag. This is from a few years ago, but “Moose” captures a righteous bewilderment that boosts Kevin Kugler’s call:
The roughing the passer call after the Falcons’ Grady Jarrett hit the Bucs’ Tom Brady, and the roasting of it from Fox’s Daryl Johnston. pic.twitter.com/3ba6PCdrHm
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 9, 2022
Best for: Physical, old-school matchups that play through the whistle.
Jonathan Vilma, the timeline checker
The three-time Pro Bowl linebacker (New York Jets, New Orleans Saints) joins Kenny Albert to explain defense in an accessible way. He raises into the upper register for run stuffs, a highlight that otherwise wilts without the proper punch. But our guests remember him for his commitment to the bit. He’s the football watcher who tries to cite a meme or lyric behind every touchdown dance. Vilma is going to show us “6-7” videos until the drinks go flat and the casserole congeals. It can get on our collective nerves.
No room for brain rot with four games in the quad box. We all have work in the morning. Just be in the moment with us. The jokes do land with a bit of touch-grass spontaneity:
— The Comeback NFL (@TheComebackNFL) September 21, 2025
Best for: Goal-line stands, where his defensive expertise can outweigh his internet instincts.
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